Anesthesia

The Anesthesia Service at New Bolton Center is integrated in the Section of Emergency, Critical Care and Anesthesia.

Penn Vet’s academic veterinary hospitals were among the first to establish anesthesia as an independent specialty service, with Dr. Lawrence Soma as co-founder of the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists (ACVA) being a pioneer in this field.

Dr. Lin Klein was among the first board-certified diplomates of the ACVA and established during her 25 years of dedicated service the level of anesthesia care large animal patients enjoy today at New Bolton Center. One of our previous nurses (Larry Nann) was instrumental in the development of the certification process for specialized veterinary nurse anesthetists.

Throughout the years, advancements in veterinary anesthesiology have paralleled human medicine with regard to providing the safest possible anesthetic experience for large animals.

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At Penn Vet, veterinary anesthesiology has followed human medicine with regard to providing the safest possible anesthetics, assisted ventilation and oxygen delivery, and constant monitoring and support of vital status.

Education in pharmacology, cardiovascular physiology, pain management, and other relevant fields is provided on a continual basis for staff members.

They also monitor carefully anesthetic depth and measure concentrations of anesthetic gases administered, and assist the animals during the recovery from anesthesia.

Equipment

For all these tasks, state-of-the art anesthesia equipment and monitors are being used. In addition, New Bolton Center's Hospital is equipped with an unique pool raft recovery system that facilitates recovery of horses from general anesthesia and helps minimizing any self-inflicted injuries during the post-anesthetic wake-up period.

Types of Patients

Our case load is varied, from healthy animals for routine procedures to patients undergoing complex colic or other soft-tissue as well as fracture-repair surgery.

Patients include:

Horses

Ruminants

Pigs

Camelids

Zoo and wildlife animals

From evaluation and handling of the patient prior to the procedure, to ensuring optimal anesthetic and pain management throughout the procedure and post-operatively, delivering anesthesia safely to such a variety of species provides an exciting challenge. Providing comfort and quality pain management to the patient throughout the process is extremely rewarding.